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Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Port Townsend Bay Monitoring Project

Students on the Monty Python after

a rain cover was
made for it.

Back in 1986, Judy and her friend
Debra decided to start a project that would get local kids helping to monitor
the water quality in Port
Townsend Bay.
They already had a boat—a scientist friend had donated the vessel Monty
Python to PTMSC. Debra was a water quality engineer, and Judy
reluctantly agreed to be the boat’s skipper until a real skipper took the helm.
The Port Townsend Bay Monitoring Project, or MOPO, was born.

With six high school students in
tow, they tried out many things that first year—sampling water from one end of
PT Bay to the other, doing the first fish trawls, and testing bottom samples
for contamination—tiny amphipods were placed in the sediment to see if it they
died. (The test was tricky to do and results weren’t very clear.) Volunteers
were involved too, monitoring beaches for change and surveying eelgrass beds.

MOPO continued for 14 years. After
the first year, MOPO began working with all of Port Townsend’s 8th
graders. Students got some in-class training and then they each got a turn
going on a sampling trip on the Monty Python. When it was their turn
they were often annoyed they had to put on baggy rain gear and wear thick life
jackets, but once on the water nobody complained.

Over the years they measured
dissolved oxygen, salinity and temperature at four monitoring sites and
recorded the variety of animals they sifted from the sediment at each site. But
the best part was that so many students—around 100 each year—got out on the
water to work as scientists for a day and learn what good water quality is all
about—and why it’s so important.

By
Judy D’Amore, co-founder of PTMSC

This is one of 30 reasons to give $30
to celebrate 30 years. Or increase your impact and give more. All funds support
the Future Fund to keep the PTMSC going strong. Donate
online or call (360) 385-5582, ext. 104, or send a check to 532 Battery Way, Port Townsend, WA 98368.